January 29 is Newspaper Day. Then there is WORLD AMATEUR RADIO DAY(April 18), “NATIONAL PUBLIC RELATIONS DAY(April 21)”, WORLD BOOK AND COPYRIGHT DAY(April 23), “WORLE PRESS FREEDOM DAY(May 3)”, SPORTS JOURNALISTS DAY(July 2), WORLD PHOTOGRAPHY DAY(August 19), WORLD TELEVISION DAY (November 21) and other.

I’ve often compared a PR career to living-on-the-edge – a calling best suited to people who can work really hard and smart; and bring to life ideas that lead to change.

PR requires a special kind of person who thrives on action, on ‘doing’ everyday. PR is a series of short sprints that look quite like a marathon, in retrospect.

Do we need a ‘personal leitmotif’ that evokes an image without saying a word?
Dramatists, musicians and artists have been creating leitmotifs that imprint unforgettable memories. For instance, Pink Floyd’s The Wall evokes ‘another brick in the wall’ instantly.
You are a work of art
Creating a leitmotif allows us to ‘lead’ viewers into a multi-sensory experience that [...]

I landed in Cannes as a member of a jury eager to lend my experience to selecting the best among the best for the inaugural PR Lions. I returned humbled by the learning from the vast pool of creativity, enriched by the knowledge and thirst for more.

The world has changed – while changing further at an incredible pace. The idea can come from anywhere – advertising, PR, direct, promotions, you name it. And let’s stop cribbing about it not being a PR idea. The Idea wins. I also know that Creativity flows from the young and free. So from hereon you are the King of Rock – not MJ. So let’s see it floowww……Excellence in execution is key to success – using surround sound – digital, traditional media, email, event, grassroots, you name it. Traditional PR is alive but often not relevant, insufficient, does not reach audiences as quickly as digital does. Often digital leads, traditional media follows – almost always.

I attended a social media workshop by Dave Evans of Digital Voodoo and author of Social Media Marketing, An Hour a Day, earlier this week at Delhi organised by 2020 Media, and I loved the way he talked the new marketing cycle with the emergence of the social media. Dave also talked about how organisations need to identify various touchpoints that define their products, brands, or service and analyse the performance of each touchpoint in the social media space, how important is each touchpoint , how consistent is their delivery, and how talk-worthy are each. I wanted to have a chat with him at the venue but given the number of people waiting to talked to him, I quickly exchanged cards with him, and requested his inputs on few questions I would later send. I sent Dave eight tricky questions frequently asked by clients. His answers are below.

Ashwani has been reporting from Cannes and he has put up an interesting post on how to produce winning PR campaigns. What he said that I like the most was that any campaign has to be built around a central idea, an idea that is simple yet executed well. I also remember having a chat with Prema Sagar before she left for Cannes (she is the only Indian member to be part of the jury) that one of the core things that she look for will be a clear and simple idea and how that has been executed.